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Image courtesy of MoMA press center.

Why does every designer start to sketch with a geometric shape? And why are circles the most popular? Just as much if not more than Gestalt theory, the Bauhaus must be responsible for these preferences and behaviors. It's fascinating how profoundly Bauhaus shaped our contemporary visual world and the rules of what we call "design" today, in the mere 14 years of its existence.

Founded post-WWI, the Bauhaus school began with an utopian definition: "the building of the future" was to combine all the art disciplines for industrial production—it was all about making things cheap and universal. I believe this is similar to our state of mind today: trying to produce more effective, cheaper, and greener design for the future.

The Bauhaus school brought artists, architects, and designers together in a prolific conversation about what the nature of art might be in the modern age, and how this might be crucial for society's economic survival. These discussions pioneered the inevitable idea of "form follows function" versus "art for art's sake" and inspired all designers to create simple forms with mass-production in mind for contemporary life.

The Bauhaus retrospective and archives from the school—"Bauhaus 1919-1933: Workshops for Modernity"—will be on display until January 25 at the New York MoMA. Please check out the exhibition web site—it features the original Bauhaus pieces, and has impressive information architecture.